319 broadfield stadium, crawley

Ground number 319
Date of First Visit: 23rd March 2016
Broadfield Stadium, Crawley

Brighton U21s 1
Newcastle United U21s 1 (Callum Roberts)

FA Premier U21s League

Unofficial attendance: 368 (Dave from York's estimate!) 
Actual attendance: 266!


"THE FOOLHARDY FIVE!"

THE TOON (in the dark blue strip)
ATTACK THE BRUCE WINFIELD END! (1st half)

Three of the 'NUFC mad-sad groundhoppers' travelled doon by train and stopped owerneet for this one---namely 'Dave from York', hiz 'sidekick' 'Alex of St George' and 'Blondie Alan the Morris Dancer'
'Glennn from Ashington' opted for a torturous 'cheap' coach jorney via London, while yours truly decided (against my better judgement!) to drive aall the way there and back az aa had to gan to graft on the Thorsday afternoon

Aa set off (on mee todd!) in mee 9 seater van (come mini bus) at precisely '11:11am bells' and heeded for deepest Sussex!

Just to 'help me' on the 330 mile plus jorney, the London orbital M25 motorway waz shut at the junction aa needed from the M1 torn off!---Az the radio reported delays of FIVE HOURS aa panicked and torned off at Northampton and heeded doon the A43 towards Oxford where aa picked the M40 up which comes oot at a junction of the M25 not effected by the closure <(hope a'm not borin' the t*tts off yoo?)
It waz then a stop start crawl around the 'said' M25 and aa eventually arrived in 'Creepy Crawleyland' at qwaataa to six bells, some SIX and a half hours and 334 miles after leavin' my Tyneside abode!

Kick off waz at 7, so (after bumpin' into Glennn) we heeded for a pub caalled 'The Full Moon' where Dave and Co. were! (or waz it 'The Blue Moon'?)
After a fruitless 30 minutes tryin' to find it, we 'gave up' and heeded back to the groond az kick off time waz approachin'!
(It torned oot that the pub waz through an underpass-- but nebody telt us that!)

Anyway!---after a quick 'nosebag' inside the groond (a cheeseburger!) it waz soon kick off time and Dave, Blondie and Alex made up the five lang distance Toon travellers, az they staggered in from the boozer we couldn't find! (we have since renamed worsels az 'The Foolhardy Five!'!)

Ivan Toney waz playin' for us after a 2 month absence through injury but quite a few of The Toon team were from the lower junior ranks (U18s) and Brighton took advantage az they tried to make the breakthrough!
It came in the 17th minute after a defensive blunder by wor number 2 (Spooner) allowed Brighton's number 4 (Collar) the space to have a shot which beat Toon debutant keeper Nathan Harker az the shot went in off the post!


THE 'U' HAZ FALLEN OFF THE KRUL STAND!---
AZ THE TOON PRESS FOR THE WINNER 

Brighton had othaa chances to seal the win ---but didn't take them and in the 2nd half, az we attacked the 'Tim Krul End' (see photo of stand's name!) wor number 7 Callum Roberts hit an unstoppable left foot shot which flew into the back of the net, to loud 'cheers' and applause from the 'Foolhardy Five' and aboot 20 othaa Toon exiles dotted aboot the main stand!
Az the baall entered the net 'Dave from York' got a phone call from the widow of a recently bereaved Toon fan known az 'Gazza' <(no! not that one!) tellin' him of the funeral arrangements!
"I'm at a match at the minute---we've just scored!", Dave told hor, az he struggled to hear hor above the noise!---weird!

Anyway!---That's the way it ended az aa 'looked forward' <(NOT!) to the six hour drive back yem!---via the M1 roadworks--arrivin' back at precisely '3:02 am bells' and a roond trip of (precisely!) 663.7 miles!--which took iz ower half a day's travellin' time! (12 and a half hours drivin' time, there and back, aall told!) 

ie: It WAZ worth it though--az aa 'chalked' anothaa Leegue groond 'off the 92 list'-----A'm not caalled 'The mad-sad groundhopper' for nothin'! 
Of the 92 current leegue groonds, a'v visited 78 !---aall with 'The Toon'!
In total includin' former leegue groonds of current leegue teams, this total rises to 110 (ie 2 groonds for the likes of Man C, SMBs, Smoggies, Lestaa, Stoke, Bristol Rovers, etc etc)
That still leaves me with 14 current leegue groonds still to visit however!----it's a never endin' 'goal'!         

THE CRUMPLED TEAM SHEET PROVES THAT "WE WAZ THERE!"